Skills

Skills are player attributes which are leveled up through the use of specific tools or actions. Each skill has ten levels. A skill level increase is awarded immediately upon earning enough experience points for a new level, and is immediately displayed on the skills tab of the inventory. The new skill level immediately increases the proficiency of the tool(s) associated with that skill.

Overnight, after the player goes to bed on the day a skill level increases, a popup announces the increase, and additionally awards knowledge of any applicable crafting or cooking recipes. At level 5 and level 10, players also select which one of two available Professions to specialize in. Each profession has its own set of benefits, such as sell price bonuses for related items. It should be noted that awards of recipe knowledge or profession benefits do not take place until seen in the popup overnight, and are not available until the first thing the following morning. In particular, items sold or shipped the day of the skill level increase do not receive the new price bonuses. Like recipes, profession benefits are only available beginning the following day.

All skills need the following experience points to increase skill level:

Lvl Experience Total Experience 1 100 100 2 +280 380 3 +390 770 4 +530 1300 5 +850 2150

Lvl Experience Total Experience 6 +1150 3300 7 +1500 4800 8 +2100 6900 9 +3100 10000 10 +5000 15000

A variety of skills can be temporarily improved by eating specific foods. These skills will appear as a buff icon next to the player clock in the user interface. Skills can be viewed in the player skill tab in the game pause menu.

Farming	Levels are gained by harvesting crops and caring for animals. Each level grants +1 hoe and watering can proficiency (see tools).
Mining	Mining skill is increased by breaking rocks (normally done with a Pickaxe). Each level grants +1 pickaxe proficiency.
Foraging	Foraging skill includes both gathered foraged goods, and wood from trees chopped with an axe tool. Each level grants +1 axe proficiency.
Fishing	Fishing is associated with successfully completing the fishing mini-game or catching fish in a Crab Pot, increasing the fishing skill. Each level grants +1 fishing rod proficiency.
Combat	Combat is a skill tied to the player's ability to fight against monsters.

Proficiency

Proficiency refers to the amount of energy required to use a specific tool.

At skill level 0, each successful use of a Pickaxe, Axe, or Hoe costs 2 energy. Unsuccessful uses (e.g., attempting to chop a Large Log with the starter axe) cost 1 energy. Each cast of the Fishing Pole costs 8 energy, even if the cast fails (e.g., the fishing line does not land in water). The starter Watering Can uses 2 energy.

Each increase in skill decreases energy requirements by 0.1 points for specific tools (listed below). Skill increases past level 10 (only possible temporarily via Buffs) continue to decrease the energy requirements. So, for example, using a Pickaxe at Mining level 13 costs only 0.7 points per swing. (The game keeps track of fractional amounts of energy, but in the user interface they are rounded to the nearest integer).

Powering up an upgraded watering can increases its energy cost by 2 points per power-up; each increase in skill decreases the energy requirement by 0.1 points (regardless of power level). At Farming Level 0, the starter can uses 2 energy to water one tile; the iridium can at maximum power uses 10 energy to water eighteen tiles. At Farming Level 10, the starter can uses 1 energy; the iridium at maximum power uses 9 energy (10 minus .1 per skill level). Using an upgraded can to water fewer tiles than it is able costs the same energy as the first watering can upgrade that is able to water that many tiles (single tile always the same as starter can, 5 tiles always the same as steel can). Attempting to use an empty watering can doesn't cost energy. Filling a watering can never uses energy.

Upgrading an Axe, Pickaxe, or Hoe does not alter the amount of energy required to use it. The increased efficiency of the Axe, Pickaxe, or Hoe, however, will result in less overall energy being used for the same task than a lower-level tool.

Note that all Hoes use the same energy (2 points at Farming Level 0, and 1 point at Farming Level 10), whether powered-up or used to till one tile of soil.

All fishing poles use the same energy: 8 points at Fishing Level 0, and 7 points at Fishing Level 10.

Affected Tools Farming Hoe Watering Can Foraging Axe Fishing Fishing Rod Mining Pickaxe

Unaffected Tools The following tools do not consume energy: Copper Pan Scythe Weapons Swords Clubs Daggers Slingshots The following tools always consume 4 points of energy: Milk Pail Shears

Neither loading a Crab Pot with Bait nor harvesting it uses any energy, at any skill level.

Farming

Main article: Farming

Farming skill is gained by harvesting crops. Caring for animals also adds experience: Petting, milking, and shearing farm animals or picking up an animal product inside a barn or coop each give 5 experience points. Using a hoe or watering can does not grant experience by itself. Each level grants +1 proficiency to hoes and watering cans.

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting / Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Scarecrow Basic Fertilizer	Mayonnaise Machine Stone Fence Sprinkler	Bee House Speed-Gro Farmer's Lunch	Preserves Jar Basic Retaining Soil Iron Fence	Rancher Animal products worth 20% more.	Tiller Crops worth 10% more. (Bonus applies to all Vegetables and Flowers, plus any Fruit that has not been foraged)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Rancher:	Tiller:
Cheese Press Hardwood Fence Quality Sprinkler	Loom Quality Retaining Soil	Oil Maker Keg Deluxe Speed-Gro	Seed Maker Iridium Sprinkler Quality Fertilizer	Coopmaster Befriend coop animals quicker. Incubation time cut in half. (Also improves coop product quality, see details here)	Artisan Artisan goods (wine, cheese, oil, etc.) worth 40% more. (Note that oil does not actually benefit from the Artisan Profession)
				Shepherd Befriend barn animals quicker. Sheep produce wool faster. (Also improves barn product quality, see details here)	Agriculturist All crops grow 10% faster.

Mining

Main article: Mining

Mining skill is increased by breaking rocks. Each level adds +1 to Pickaxe proficiency. You are awarded mining skill points when rocks are destroyed -- it doesn't matter if this is done by Pickaxe, Bombs, or by the action of Monsters.

Different rock types give different numbers of experience points.

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Cherry Bomb	Staircase	Miner's Treat	Glowstone Ring Transmute (Fe)	Miner +1 ore per vein.	Geologist Chance for gems to appear in pairs. (50% chance per Node. Also applies to geodes spawned from breaking rocks.)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Miner:	Geologist:
Bomb	Transmute (Au)	Mega Bomb	Crystalarium	Blacksmith Metal bars worth 50% more. (Applies to Copper, Iron, Gold, & Iridium Bars)	Excavator Chance to find geodes doubled. (Applies to all 4 types of geodes)
				Prospector Chance to find coal doubled.	Gemologist Gems worth 30% more. (applies to Minerals and Gems)

Foraging

Main article: Foraging

Foraging skill is increased both by gathering forage items found on the ground throughout Stardew Valley and by chopping down Trees with an Axe. Each foraging skill level adds +1 axe proficiency.

Experience Points

Experience points (XP) are granted as follows:

• 12 XP for chopping down a tree with an axe (granted all at once for the last chop that causes the tree to fall).
• 1 XP for removing the tree stump after chopping down a tree.
• 25 XP for removing Large Stumps and Large Logs.
• 7 XP for each foraged item picked up from the ground.
  • If the Gatherer profession doubles the foraged item, another 7 XP is granted for the duplicate item.
• 3 XP for each Spring Onion harvested from Cindersap Forest in Spring.

The 7 XP for foraging items applies solely to those items visible sitting on the ground that are picked up only if the player clicks on them; it does not apply to items lying on the ground (e.g., dropped by shaking) that are automatically added to the player inventory by magnetism. Specific items that do grant 7 XP include:

• Standard randomly-spawned foraged items throughout Stardew Valley.
• Items grown from Wild Seeds (except if in a Garden Pot, in which case 0 XP).
• All items foraged from the Beach.
• All fruit collected from the Farm Cave, if the fruit bat option was selected.
• Truffles.
• Forage items spawned on the ground in the Mines and Skull Cavern, namely Red Mushrooms, Purple Mushrooms, and Fiddlehead Ferns.

The following Items do NOT grant any foraging experience:

• Trees felled by Bombs (however, weakening a tree with bombs before felling it with an axe will still give full XP).
• Blackberries and Salmonberries from bushes (whether picked by the player or shaken loose by animals).
• Grapes grown from Grape Starters.
• Items dug up from artifact spots, such as Snow Yams and Winter Roots.
• Items grown in Garden Pots.
• Mushrooms collected from the Farm Cave if the mushroom option was selected.
• Mushrooms obtained from chopping or tapping a Mushroom Tree.
• Non-forage items spawned on the ground in the Mines and Skull Cavern, namely Quartz, Earth Crystals, Frozen Tears, Fire Quartz, and Dinosaur Eggs -- except that a bug causes any duplicates created by the Gatherer profession to give 7XP.
• Forageables obtained from killing Monsters.
• Gingers dug up from the ground

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Wild Seeds (Sp) Field Snack Trees sometimes drop seeds.	Survival Burger	Tapper	Charcoal Kiln Wild Seeds (Su) +1 Wild Berry harvesting	Forester Gain 25% more wood when chopping (Applies to Trees, Stumps & Logs)	Gatherer Chance for double harvest of foraged items. (20% chance of double harvest)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Forester:	Gatherer:
Lightning Rod Wild Seeds (Fa) Warp Totem: Beach	Wild Seeds (Wi) Warp Totem: Mountains Tree Fertilizer	Warp Totem: Farm +1 Wild Berry harvesting	Rain Totem Cookout Kit	Lumberjack All trees have a chance to drop hardwood.	Botanist Foraged items are always highest quality.
				Tapper Syrups worth 25% more.	Tracker Location of forageable items revealed.

Fishing

Main article: Fishing

Fishing Skill is increased by catching Fish, Trash, Seaweed, Green Algae, or White Algae with a Fishing Rod/Pole or by harvesting Crab Pots.

Each level grants +1 Fishing Rod Proficiency, increases the minimum fish size (in/cm) and bobber bar height, and decreases the max amount of time before fish bite. Fishing skill also increases the chance to find quality (silver or gold star) fish.

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting / Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Casting distance increased by one tile	Bait Fiberglass Rod & Bait unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop	Crab Pot Dish o' The Sea Crab Pot unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop	Recycling Machine Casting distance increased by one tile	Fisher Fish worth 25% more.	Trapper Resources required to craft crab pots reduced.
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting / Cooking Recipes:	Fisher:	Trapper:
Spinner Trap Bobber Iridium Rod, Lead Bobber, Spinner, & Trap Bobber unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop	Cork Bobber Treasure Hunter Cork Bobber & Treasure Hunter unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop	Worm Bin Barbed Hook Dressed Spinner Barbed Hook & Dressed Spinner unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop Casting distance increased by one tile	Seafoam Pudding Magnet Magnet unlocked in Willy's Fish Shop	Angler Fish worth 50% more.	Mariner Crab pots no longer produce junk items.
				Pirate Chance to find treasure doubled.	Luremaster Crab pots no longer require bait.

Combat

Main article: Combat

Combat skill is increased by fighting monsters. Some levels add to the player's total HP (health points), as shown by an increase in the health meter.

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Cooking Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Choose a Profession:
Sturdy Ring Bug Steak	Life Elixir	Roots Platter	Warrior Ring	Fighter All attacks deal 10% more damage. (+15 HP)	Scout Critical strike chance increased by 50%. (+0 HP)
Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10
Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Crafting Recipes:	Fighter:	Scout:
Slime Egg-Press Oil of Garlic	Ring of Yoba	Slime Incubator Explosive Ammo	Iridium Band	Brute Deal 15% more damage. (+0 HP)	Acrobat Cooldown on special moves cut in half. (+0 HP)
				Defender +25 HP.	Desperado Critical strikes are deadly. (+0 HP)

Changing Professions

The Statue Of Uncertainty in The Sewers allows the player to change professions. After donating 10,000g, the statue requires the player to choose one skill to change. That night after the player goes to bed, the Level 5 "Choose a profession" screen will appear, followed by the corresponding Level 10 "Choose a profession" screen for the skill selected at the statue.

Only skills for which professions have already been chosen will appear in the Statue's menu. As soon as the player chooses a profession to change, the bonuses for existing professions disappear. Skills that gives bonuses to sell prices will not apply to items placed in the shipping bin the day you change your profession.

Skill-Based Title

Based on your total Skill level you get a certain Title under your name in the Skills tab of the Player Menu. Your level and title are also visible when hovering over your picture on the Inventory Tab of the Player Menu.

The level is calculated as follows: (farmingLevel + fishingLevel + foragingLevel + combatLevel + miningLevel + luckLevel) / 2

If the resulting number ends in 0.5, the decimal value is truncated, and only the integer portion is considered.

Here are the possible Titles:

• level >= 30: Farm King
• level > 28: Cropmaster
• level > 26: Agriculturist
• level > 24: Farmer
• level > 22: Rancher
• level > 20: Planter
• level > 18: Granger
• level > 16: Farmgirl/Farmboy
• level > 14: Sodbuster
• level > 12: Smallholder
• level > 10: Tiller
• level > 8: Farmhand
• level > 6: Cowpoke
• level > 4: Bumpkin
• level > 2: Greenhorn
• level <= 2: Newcomer

You would need luck level 10 as well as level 10 in all Skills to get the Highest title, Farm King. Unfortunately, luck level (a value separate from daily Luck) is not implemented in the game as of PC v1.5. Luck level appears (in the game code) to have been intended as a 6th skill that could be leveled up, like the other skills. This means that the highest level possible is 25, making "Farmer" the best obtainable title.

History

• 1.3: Added Statue of Uncertainty. Removing a regular tree stump now gives +1 Foraging experience.
• 1.4: Fixed Prospector profession not applied to rocks destroyed in the mines.
• 1.4.1: Profession bonuses now disappear as soon as you choose a profession to change at the Statue of Uncertainty. Only skills that have already chosen professions are shown in the Statue's menu.